Newport Beach DUI Attorney

Our Newport Beach DUI defense attorneys want to help you fight your Orange County DUI charges. We'll take every measure to try to dismiss or reduce your charges so you can avoid a trial. But we're always ready to take the matter before a jury if necessary.

If you've been arrested for DUI in Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Irvine, Santa Ana, Orange, Garden Grove or Huntington Beach, please call us at (949) 644-4692 for a free consultation or visit our office at:

Newport Beach Criminal Defense
4590 MacArthur Blvd, 5th Floor
Newport Beach, California 92660

If you scroll down, you'll find helpful information about California drunk driving law and how our Newport Beach DUI defense lawyers may help your case:

Newport Beach DUI lawyer John Murray

The DMV Hearing

The Criminal Case

DUI Penalties

Newport Beach Jail & Courthouse Information

Newport Beach DUI Schools

Newport Beach DUI lawyer John Murray, Esq.

Featured on FOX News as an expert legal commentator, Newport Beach DUI defense attorney John Murray has defended well over a thousand driving-under-the-influence cases and has succeeded in having many of them dismissed or reduced to California reckless driving or simple traffic infractions. As well as having a proven track record of aggressively negotiating with prosecutors, he is also an experienced trial attorney and has argued numerous DUI matters in front of California judges and juries.

Sometimes DUI cases can be thrown out entirely based on police misconduct, and Newport Beach criminal defense lawyer John Murray knows exactly what to look for. Having received advanced training in operating breathalyzer machines and administering field sobriety tests, John Murray has been exposed to the mistakes police frequently make when testing and arresting a DUI suspect: He takes advantage of this insider knowledge to strategically investigate the facts of your case, find holes in the state's evidence, and weaken their arguments against you.

Orange County DUI lawyer John Murray graduated from Ventura College of Law and California State University, Northridge. He practices throughout the OC, including Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Irvine, Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Huntington Beach.

Newport Beach DMV Hearings related to a California DUI arrest

California DUI cases are two pronged: There's the criminal case (discussed below), and the DMV case. The moment you're arrested for driving under the influence in Newport Beach, the police officer will ask that you hand over your drivers license, and he/she will give you a pink, temporary license good for thirty days. You can contact the Department of Motor Vehicles to request a DMV Hearing to contest the license suspension, but you have to make the request within only ten days of your arrest, or else you forfeit the right completely.

Our Newport Beach DUI Defense Attorneys can request the DMV Hearing for you as well as appear on your behalf. DMV Hearings are very similar to trials, and we can present evidence and cross-examine witnesses in an effort to persuade the hearing officer not to suspend your license. Either way, a first time DUI case will rarely cause your license to be suspended for more than a few months, whereas successive DUI cases may result in suspensions for one year or longer. We can also request that you be granted a restricted license that would allow you to continue commuting to work and school.

For more in-depth information, please refer to our page on DMV hearings related to a California DUI arrest.

The Criminal Case resulting from a Newport Beach DUI arrest

If your DUI arrest involved no accident or injuries, you'll probably be charged with the misdemeanors Vehicle Code 23152(a) and Vehicle Code 23152(b). However, if you have already been convicted of DUI three times in the last ten years, a fourth incident may be charged as a felony, even if nobody got hurt.

The courts usually draw out DUI cases for several months or more, and sometimes your first court date won't occur until weeks after the initial arrest. Our Newport Beach DUI Defense attorneys take advantage of this time to study all the facts of your case, compile favorable evidence, craft the strongest defense possible, and negotiate with prosecutors in an effort to throw out your case or at least lessen the charges. Furthermore, you usually never have to appear in court-we go in your place.

Newport Beach DUI Penalties and Sentencing

People convicted of DUI in Newport Beach for the first time can expect to be sentenced to the following terms:

• Two days to six months of jail, but that's almost always suspendable



• Fines of about $1,800



• Three years or more of probation



• A six-month drivers license suspension (though you can usually still drive to work and school on a "restricted license")



• Three months of California DUI School (see below for info on local schools)

Predictably, sentences get harsher for second and third DUIs: Expect to pay higher fines, do longer DUI school programs and install an ignition interlock device in your car. (An ignition interlock device is a breathalyzer that disables your car if you register as having been drinking.) Jail may be imposed as well.

Newport Beach Jail and Courthouse Information

If you're arrested for DUI, you'll likely be booked at not the Central Jail Complex but rather the Newport Beach Jail, located in the local police department at 870 Santa Barbara Drive, Newport Beach, CA 92660. The number is (949) 644-3672.

The Orange County District Attorney prosecutes DUIs at the Harbor Justice Center, located at 4601 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach, CA 92660. The number is (714) 449-8100.

If you plead to driving under the influence, the courtroom clerk will provide you with information about local DUI schools, which, as mentioned above, is a standard part of DUI sentences.

Any mandatory jail sentences for second or third misdemeanor DUIs will probably be served at the Orange County Central Jail Complex at 550 N. Flower Street, Santa Ana, CA 92703 and reachable at (714) 647-4666, the Theo Lacy Facility at 501 The City Drive South, Orange, CA 92868 and reachable at (714) 935-6940, or the James A. Musick Facility at 13502 Musick Road, Irvine CA 92618 and reachable at (949) 855-2600.

Arrestees under eighteen will likely be detained at Orange County Juvenile Hall, located at 331 City Drive, Orange, CA 92868. The number is (714) 935-6660.

Detainees at Orange County Juvenile Hall will then have their cases heard at the Betty Lou Lamoreaux Juvenile Justice Center, located at 341 City Drive, Ste. 307, Orange, CA 92868. The number is (714) 935-7578.

Also visit our page on California DUI charges for drivers under 21 years of age.

Newport Beach DUI Schools

The most standard sentence in DUI cases, even if it's your first one, is a drug and alcohol education program. California DUI School typically lasts three months to thirty months, depending on your BAC level at the time of the arrest and if you have previous drunk driving convictions. Obviously, our Newport Beach DUI defense attorneys would try to persuade the judge to order the shortest program possible for you.

Two Newport Beach DUI Schools are:

Gold Coast Counseling Center
Programs: Eighteen Month
1441 Superior, Ste. D
Newport Beach, CA 92663
(949) 722-0893

Academy of Defensive Driving, Inc.
Programs: First Offender
2000 Quail Street
Newport Beach, CA 92660
(949) 752-0710

Arrested for DUI in Orange County?

It is our mission to make this ordeal as quick and painless as possible, to do everything to try to keep you out of jail and save your drivers license, and to fight to dismiss your DUI charges or to have them reduced to California reckless driving or even less.

To schedule a free meeting with a Newport Beach criminal defense lawyer, call us at (949) 644-4692.

Join us to discuss your DUI case at any of our
local offices: You can also contact us 24/7 at
888.327.4652 for a free consultation